Research News CRY at the conferences
From left to right: CRY myheart Cardiologist Dr Michael Papadakis, Screening Programme Manager Azra Loncarevic-Srmic, Consultant Cardiologist Professor Sanjay Sharma, Deputy CEO Dr Steve Cox, Dr David Oxborough and Research Fellow Dr Harshil Dhutia at EuroPRevent in Lisbon
Professor Sanjay Sharma is presented with the 2015 Viviane Conraads Outstanding Achievement Award at EuroPRevent
CRY Consultant Cardiologist Professor Sanjay Sharma led CRY doctors presenting at major European cardiology conferences throughout the summer of 2015. Current and former CRY Research Fellows presenting their research included Dr Michael Papadakis, Dr Ahmed Merghani, Dr Aneil Malhotra, Dr Greg Mellor, Dr Sabiha Gati, Dr Abbas Zaidi, Dr Keerthi Prakash, Dr Tracey Keteepe-Arachi, Dr Gherardo Finocchiaro and Dr Harshil Dhutia. CRY Deputy Chief Executive Dr Steve Cox and Screening Programme Manager Azra Loncarevic-Srmic joined the CRY doctors in Lisbon, Manchester and London from May to August to represent the charity, helping to tie the cardiology presented at each conference to CRY’s overall strategy and initiatives for the prevention of young sudden cardiac death. The first major European Society of Cardiology (ESC) conference of the year for CRY is EuroPRevent, which in 2015 was based in Lisbon, Portugal, and ran from May 14–16. EuroPRevent is organised by the ESC’s arm for cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation (EACPR), the category under which CRY’s research into inherited heart disease and sports cardiology falls. It was a very special conference for Professor Sharma, who was granted the honour of being presented with the first Viviane Conraads Outstanding Achievement Award for Established Researchers at the event in recognition of his incredible contributions to medicine in this field. The summer conferences continued with the British Cardiovascular Society (BCS) Conference, the UK’s biggest cardiology meeting, from June 8–10 in Manchester. Amongst the most significant research exhibited was Dr Abbas Zaidi’s study tackling the challenges of diagnosing ARVC (arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy) in athletes, a paper published later that month with an editorial in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and as described by Professor Sharma: “as of August 2015, the best study in sports cardiology this year.” An international EACPR sports cardiology training course on August 28 at St George’s, University of London – which houses the CRY Centre for Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions and Sports Cardiology – was organised by Professor Sharma and CRY myheart Cardiologist Dr Michael Papadakis in collaboration with St George’s and CRY. The day featured presentations on detecting pathology in athletes by renowned experts including Italian cardiologist Professor Domenico Corrado and Swedish cardiologist Professor Mats Börjesson, as well as Dr David Oxborough, an echocardiography expert who has worked with CRY in the past and is based at Liverpool John Moores University.
CRY’s Pete Hinchliffe Award 2013-winner Dr Sabiha Gati at the BCS Conference, a contributing author of the ARVC research led by Pete Hinchliffe Award 2012-winner Dr Abbas Zaidi
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The ESC Congress 2015 in London was a huge opportunity for Professor Sharma and the CRY Research Group to take
Issue 67 | May to August 2015